In the aftermath of the presidential election when some in the ‘Opposition’
realized that they were potentially faced with five more years of suffering
under Yaya, some decided to take the easy route and ‘join’ the APPPRC
bandwagon.  You will hear all sorts of jargon to rationalize the change of
heart, but the bottom-line is that these people simply jettisoned their
‘principles’ and decided to dine with the Devil.

Let us take stock of what the ‘compromise’ and ‘constructive engagement’
gave us.  In my opinion the first ‘compromising’ stance that was taken by
the ‘Opposition’ was the acceptance of the elections results.  In Darboe’s
mind he might have been acting noble calling Yaya to ‘concede defeat’.  It
does NOT take a rocket scientist to decipher that what Darboe thought he was
averting was a civil war had his supporters decided to storm the State House
like the Yugoslavians did against Milosevic and the Ivorians did against
Robert Guei.  Taking stock, what did Darboe’s ‘compromise’ gain the
‘Opposition’?  We still have a Dictatorship back home whose first executive
actions after the elections were to sanction the victimization of perceived
‘Opposition’ sympathizers.  APRC thugs were physically attacking Opposition
supporters. Yaya went ahead with his pre-election ‘promises’ and dismissed
numerous civil servants he deemed as Opposition sympathizers.  But worst of
all APPPRC sycophants and some member of the ‘Opposition within the
Opposition’ saw Darboe’s concession as a sign of weakness and mocked the man
for it.  They used that ‘concession’ to argue that the man was estopped from
talking about the blatant flaws of the election.  The same people that would
have loudly criticized Darboe for standing up to the thugs that wanted to
steal the elections are the very ones now criticizing the man for putting
the safety of Gambians first and ‘conceding defeat’.  The jury is still out
as to whether the ‘concession’ was better for Gambians or Darboe should have
fought harder.  Where I stand on this issue should be glaring to everyone.
In any case, it is undeniable that the ‘Opposition’ did NOT gain from this
first ‘compromise’.

The next ‘constructive engagement’ we got was the Dibba debacle.  Would
someone that describes Dibba as an opportunist be way off?  Overnight the
man threw all his ‘principles’ in the toilet for what?  To be appointed
Speaker?  They keep talking about doing things for the good of the country.
Well, what has Dibba’s move to APPPRC done for the average Gambians and what
does he hope to achieve for the average Gambian?  Can we rely on Dibba and
the Parliament to investigate APPPRC corruption and waste?  Can we rely on
Dibba to ensure that legislation such as the Indemnity Decree will NEVER be
passed through Parliament again?  Of course we all know that like his APPPRC
cohorts, Dibba is also a rubber-stamp.  The most decisive ruling Dibba is
going to make in that House is to threaten to jail spectators for having
their cell phones on while the House is in session.  Dibba’s interest is not
necessarily the interest of the average Gambian.  Yes! Dibba benefited from
this ‘compromise’ and recognition of the APPPRC ‘mandate’.  What about
Gambians that are living in abject poverty because of the ineptitude of this
regime?  What about Gambians that are going to suffer because of the
sanctions thugs like Baabaa (Blood Diamond Dealer) Jobe are going to
attract?

The other ‘compromise’ came from Jawara.  Because Yaya promised to return
him his assets, the man was prepared to ‘forgive’ Yaya NOT only on his
(Jawara’s) behalf, but he had the audacity to attempt to hijack our grief
and forgive all AFPRC/APRC atrocities.  You listen to Jawara and his
apologists (in APPPRC), you think he is the only person that has been
‘wronged’ by Yaya.  This ‘compromise’ (that in effect wants to wipe out the
fact that Yaya and his gang stole power from a democratically elected
government and in the process slaughtered innocent Gambians on November 11,
1994), is the most disgusting ‘compromise’ if you ask me.  And who benefits
from this?  Jawara ‘making up’ with Yaya is going to ‘develop’ the country?
Jawara ‘making up’ with Yaya is going to give justice to the family of
Gibril Saye who was slaughtered in cold-blood in November 1994?

These are the significant ‘compromises’ in my opinion that even need
discussion.  These ‘compromises’ did NOT take us anywhere.  Dibba got an
appointment.  Jawara got his properties back.  Where does that leave the
numerous families whose children have been slaughtered by this regime?
Where does that leave our farmers living in abject poverty while Yaya and
his cohorts are living large from stolen money meant for the Gambian poor?
People on G_L that were not even staunch opponents of AFPRC/APRC to begin
with, if those people want to ‘compromise’ that is neither here nor there.
All that means is that instead of criticizing Yaya, they would now hold
brief for APPPRC.  None of those people jumping up and down here talking
about ‘compromise’ can deliver to Gambians in the name of ‘compromise’
something that Darboe, Dibba and Jawara (through their ‘compromise’) did NOT
deliver.

If someone wants to support APPPRC he/she can go right ahead.  Be my guest
and enter into the realm of defending the indefensible.  But please do NOT
sell us the notion that ‘compromising’ with Yaya is what is in the best
interest of Gambians or that no one should criticize Yaya because he has a
mandate.  If during the last elections there was a ballot box asking
Gambians to vote for someone to become Senegal’s president, no one will try
to argue that Senegalese should accept the verdict of that vote.  That would
be absurd. But it is what we had in Gambia.  People are being asked to
‘accept’ the verdict of Senegalese voters.  This is a fundamental flaw in
the election.  It CANNOT be more fundamental than that.  You go today to
Gambia and do a random sampling of people and 90% will tell you that they
would NOT vote for APRC out of their own free will.  Now the ‘Opposition’
should just fold its hands and ‘respect’ the verdict of the Casamance people
that messed our election and left to their country (Senegal)?  In Gambia now
election victories also buys the winner an impotent Opposition that should
‘compromise’ murder, mayhem and theft?

Some of us will continue to criticize this government until the murderers
and the thieves running the government are behind bars and innocent Gambians
are set free.  In the interim, no political appointment or stolen election
or other ridiculous inducement will make us mute in front of APPPRC
atrocities.  We will NOT (in the name of ‘compromise’) ignore APPPRC abuses
or start singing APPPRC praises.
KB


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>